Chapter 1342: Spell Design, The End of the Magic Net

Of course, confidence did not mean that no preparation was needed; he still brought several Spell Notes with him to the Spell Laboratory he used most often.

Thinking back, this place was assigned to him by the Tower of Time when he became an Official Mage, and it could be said to have witnessed his growth along the way.

Spreading out his notes, Xia Duo had actually prepared most of the spells needed for the upgrade before today; all he had to do now was a final push to complete the remaining parts.

Following his consistent upgrade tradition, his choice this time was undoubtedly the Mage Armor, a protective spell he was more than familiar with.

He had already completed almost all of the work on the Element Units for the core functional force field structure; what remained now was the work on some support-type Element Units to make them match the energy level of the spell's core functions.

If it were just this, perhaps an Advanced Rank Mage could also complete it; the real difficulty lay in the stability of such high-energy-level energy circuits.

It was similar to how high-voltage and low-voltage electricity must be separated on Earth, or how a small airplane cannot simply be scaled up proportionally to become a large airplane.

But because the overall spell structure still belonged to a single system, the actual difficulty of designing the spell was not necessarily harder than the multi-disciplinary industrial design on Earth.

If one mastered more fundamental principles, pure theoretical design was possible.

Currently, in Netheril, including Xia Duo, the exploration of fundamental principles was mainly focused on the transformation laws of the single Magic Net String.

When designing spells, the laws in this area helped with linear deduction; if one added another thread, the difficulty would skyrocket.

Manifested in spells, this usually meant that the spell's function was very singular; super-complex spells like the Elven Mythallar were difficult for even an Arcanist to master.

Of course, because spells possessed both theoretical and practical characteristics, in the process of long-term exposure to various spell ascensions and modifications, Xia Duo had personally realized many laws that transcended linearity.

It was just that his time in the past had always been fully packed, so he had not been able to explore further, and in the future he had already planned, Xia Duo did not intend to conduct too much basic research.

Currently, it was a golden stage of development; just completing various application optimizations with existing spells was enough to occupy a significant advantage in international competition.

As for going further, by then there would be a large number of Spellcasters cultivated by the academy, and it would be very easy to select a group of excellent candidates willing to conduct basic research from among them.

However, the future was ever-changing, and it was hard for Xia Duo to guarantee that the future would absolutely follow his plans; even now, he was not very sure if he would immediately change his plans after becoming a Great Arcanist.

Great Arcanists had exhausted the Magic Net; he had known this for a long time, but how exactly they exhausted it, he had not experienced personally and could not grasp the details.

He had only heard some rather one-sided descriptions from his exchanges with Iolum and Kangjienio, and combined with some information obtained from the Projection Plane, he had reached that conclusion—

The Magic Net only went up to ten layers.

After becoming a Great Arcanist, it was difficult to upgrade further!

For example, compared to the recently achieved Sikumu and Huo Ke, the two long-renowned Great Arcanists, Iolum and Kangjienio, had no difference in the level of contact with the Magic Net.

This was the fundamental reason why there were no further divisions of Advanced or Intermediate ranks after becoming a Great Arcanist; besides the small number of people, it was because everyone was the same.

Between different Great Arcanists, there was truly only a difference in the amount of Knowledge.

Regarding that state, Xia Duo still had some expectations, but at the same time, he was somewhat resistant; he did not want to experience that feeling of having no path forward.

Although he knew that the Magic he perceived was not equivalent to the Magic Net, nor was it equivalent to a Spell, he still could not help but think about it.

Perhaps he was influenced by Iolum and Kangjienio, or perhaps there were still some dark thoughts in his subconscious that he dared not face.

But regardless, he had to become a Great Arcanist first!

……

After letting his mind wander aimlessly for a while, Xia Duo quickly refocused on completing the equivalent 10th Ring Spell required for his final Ascension Trial.

Until noon, when Niya called him to have lunch together, he refused; he just casually gnawed on a few steamed buns made from Celestial Wheat, restored his body and spirit to their best state, and then continued to throw himself into his work.

In the evening, Niya called again, and this time, Xia Duo did not refuse, because the spell he needed had been designed, and only the final test remained.

And for Xia Duo, testing often meant success!

……

After dinner, Xia Duo came to the Spell Laboratory again; this time it was not just "seclusion" like during the day, he was going to "practice"!

Opening his Spell Notes to the page recording the Arcane Geometry diagram of the upgrade spell, Xia Duo cast a spell to make his Spellbook float in front of him, directly facing his face.

Only then did he begin casting according to the prompts in the Spellbook!

——Support-type Element Unit: Inner Plane Link, Elemental Energy Guidance

——Support-type Element Unit: Energy Caching

——Support-type Element Unit: Branching, Tuning, Guidance, Stabilization

——Core Element Unit: Force Generation

——Core Element Unit: Force Field Shaping

——Core Element Unit: Body Synchronization

——Support-type Element Unit: Energy Buffering

……

——Support-type Element Unit: Vibration Elimination

——Support-type Element Unit: Limit Opening and Closing

……

As the casting proceeded to the end, layers upon layers of diamond-shaped force fields, like fine fish scales, suddenly appeared around Xia Duo.

And the direction of the inertial force within these independent diamond-shaped force fields did not point entirely outward, but had a certain deflection angle.

Even if hit by arrows or bullets with extremely high penetration power that exceeded the limit of the force field protection, they would not be penetrated layer by layer and hit his body directly.

Of course, the effect of Mage Armor on energy protection was very limited; even at the 10th Ring level, it was not as good as the normal 6th Ring Protection from Energy or Resist Energy effects.

In fact, this spell was a special spell designed purely for the sake of upgrading, and its practical value was almost zero.

Xia Duo stretched his arm forward; the Mage Armor after Body Synchronization still maintained a good protective effect, and it was not the case that if his hand reached out, it could no longer be protected.

However, at this moment, he had little heart to carefully test the various effects of this Mage Armor; now his mind was completely occupied by the Reality of the Magic Net.

Ten layers of structure, nested layer by layer, tightly connected, as if a whole; going deeper, Xia Duo could no longer feel that sense of incompleteness he had always been able to feel before.

The Magic Net had indeed reached its limit!